On “Something Like an Autobiography” by Akira Kurosawa
Before reading this book, I knew Akira Kurosawa was only one of the greatest filmmakers. I’ve heard many Indian filmmakers quote his work as one of their inspirations. I remember reading or watching multiple interviews where contemporary filmmakers applaud Kurosawa’s films.
If you knew Mysskin from Tamil Cinema, you’d have known his respect towards Seven Samurai and Kurosawa. In multiple places, Mysskin wholeheartedly praised Seven Samurai mentioning how it affected him personally and why he wants every aspiring filmmaker to watch it at least once in their life.
Knowing and following this, I decided to start watching his movies and read something about him.
I started with Seven Samurai. Downloaded it and realized that the duration is more than three hours.
At that moment, I was going through a phase where I couldn’t watch a film that lasted more than two hours. Even if I watched, it took me multiple intervals in between to finish. Unless I was in a cinema hall, watching a film that lasted more than two hours was challenging to complete in a single stretch. That’s why, although I downloaded Seven Samurai in 2021, I watched it only in 2023, in two stretches, taking a lunch break in between.
Oh god, it is one of the best movies I’ve seen. Soon after that high, I watched Rashomon by Kurosawa the next day. Rashomon’s duration is only half that of Seven Samurai but equally brilliant. Kamal Haasan’s Virumandi is loosely inspired by Rashomon.
Last Christmas, we had a Secret Santa activity in our office, and I got this book from my colleague, Bhavika. Though I was looking forward to reading the book before I got it, I left it on the shelf after receiving it, as usual.
In June this year, I decided to get going with the book and started reading chronologically. Although this is an autobiography, I expected more content on his films and filmmaking approach and less about his life.
The book starts with his childhood, and he took me through the environment of a traditional Japanese Samurai Family. It was good and revealing to me as I learned that Japanese children have many activities outside of school, and they give equal importance to arts and sports. A few initial chapters of the book deal with his childhood, siblings, parents, school, and teachers.
It was a good read so far, and then came his high school days when he and his elder brother got along well, and about his friend Uekusa, his teacher Tachikawa.
I read one chapter a day, and each chapter is 2–3 pages. I was engrossed in the book from the chapter where he wrote about the earthquake and the aftermath of it. I started reading multiple chapters a day after that.
He laments about his sister and brother’s untimely deaths and how his brother acted as a mentor, making Kurosawa understand many things in life. Kurosawa also mentioned his brief work with the Communist party there and how he was lying low for days together because of this association.
After reading almost half of the book, I was into the pages for which I was looking forward — his filmmaking journey.
Kurosawa was an avid reader. He was into painting as well. He ventured into filmmaking to try his luck there and was unemployed when applying to PCL to join as an Assistant Director.
He was selected as an AD while several people applied for the same job and was onboarded to work on multiple projects with directors like Yamamoto.
I wonder how he remembered and wrote these chapters and didn’t miss out on events happening at that time. He wrote about how he started writing scripts, how editing was done in those days, how he learned editing, his understanding of music, production design, and other aspects of filmmaking, and the people who helped him understand these things.
Every day with a few chapters, I learned about this man, his days at various studios as an assistant director, and the politics during the war and how it impacted cinema. It was like listening to a friend who was narrating his life story.
Though he didn’t go into the depth of his filmmaking career and didn’t touch on all the films he made, it was good to learn some of his approaches to filmmaking.
In one instance, for a scene in one movie, they waited three days for the wind, and on the last day, they got the wind for an hour or two and finished that important scene when nature was perfect. He also emphasizes on reading, writing scripts, and rehearsals with actors.
I was amazed to learn that he once wrote three scripts as he didn’t have money to survive and then drank Sakè with most of the money he got from writing those scripts.
He was also candid about his short temper issues and his continuous fight with the censor team at a time when anything seemingly influenced by Western culture would be rejected by the censor team outrightly.
It was good while I was reading a chapter or two every day and searching on Google for the things or people mentioned in the book I wanted to know more about. His inclination towards art, be it learning Noh theatrical structure, learning traditional crafts whenever he found time, and trying to apply his learnings in his films.
Towards the end of the book, he compiled filmmaking advice to aspiring filmmakers from his experience that touches on writing, cinematography, editing, and direction.
Since I’ve seen only two films of his career so far, I’m eager to watch the remaining ones, at least the ones available on public platforms.
Overall, I’d consider this book interesting, and those who aren’t even remotely inclined towards filmmaking can also enjoy this book. I was discovering a new thing on every page, and this has been a fascinating journey of about forty-five days. I didn’t want to complete reading the book as I’d keep it on the shelf after completing it, but I had to!
I’ll read this book again and turn a few chapters whenever I need to listen to the advice of someone who lived long enough and made films that several generations could take inspiration from.
I was looking to watch his videos on YouTube and stumbled upon this. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg presenting Oscar to Akira Kurosawa!
Also, watch this video essay about Kurosawa’s way of composing movement. Watching his films and understanding and reflecting upon this video was a good learning experience.
